Conception In 1999,
FSN's nightly sports news show -
Fox Sports News, later renamed to the
National Sports Report - was losing ratings ground to
ESPN's
SportsCenter. The executives at FSN wanted a 2-3 hour show that could provide consistent, original programming on nights when there were no local basketball, baseball, or hockey games being broadcast in
FSN regions. The decision was made to do a sports roundtable type of show with the same camaraderie and energy as the
Fox NFL Sunday pregame show.
Fox NFL Sunday, which debuted in 1994 on FSN's network brother,
Fox Sports, quickly became the top-rated
NFL pregame show due in part to the personalities of NFL veterans
Terry Bradshaw and
Howie Long. However, the new show on FSN would focus on not just football, but every sport, as well as the entertainment world. Fox Sports' president David Hill modeled many aspects of the show from
The Footy Show, a sports talk show which covered the
Australian Football League in Australia (Hill's home country). The preliminary idea for the format of the new show for FSN would have one main host and different ex-athletes as hosts for each major sport. It would interweave sports talk with comedic sports-related content.
Test run In June 2001, the producers started doing screen tests with over 30 different TV hosts and former athletes.
Tom Arnold was one of the celebrities called to try out as the "comedian" of the show. He was reluctant to do it at first, and "didn't know what to expect", but he wasn't doing much at the time because he was waiting for
True Lies 2 to be green-lit (the 9/11 attacks a few months later halted those plans). He was a part of one of the last test-runs of the panel and was signed to the show. One week before the show was to launch,
National Sports Report sports anchor
Chris Rose was called to help sit-in and host one of the show test runs. What was a temporary rehearsal turned into a permanent gig, as Rose was named main host. The show quickly gained more credibility in its first few months with big-name guests such as
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Sammy Sosa,
Shaquille O'Neal, and
Terrell Owens. A main part of the show's set was "The Cage", where guests performed varying athletic challenges with the hosts. Some of the initial memorable "Cage" moments were Terrell Owens in a touchdown celebration competition, Shaq donning a blond wig and recreating famous movie scenes from
Casablanca and
Jerry Maguire, and
Gary Payton leading a
trash-talking competition. The competitions that were too large in size were brought outside the
Best Damn set into the Fox backlot. Such an example was a tricycle race between the hosts and
Lance Armstrong. By November 2001, the show was expanded to 90 minutes, and by mid-December it jumped to a 2-hour format.
Original comedy segments The sports talk in the show was mixed in with different pre-produced comedy bits and features which many times lead the show to commercial break. One of the first comedy segments within the show was the "Nightly/Daily Sports Report", hosted by Ken Rudulph, a
Daily Show-type satirical look at the latest sports news reported at an anchor desk, which soon became a daily staple in the show for its first year. The show would end with Tom Arnold's "Things You Would Never Say To..." A different athlete was highlighted each day, and Tom Arnold would belt out around 10 different lines you would never say to that athlete. One example was "Things You Would Never Say to
Patrick Ewing": "Hey, Ewing, don't worry about the swelling on your fingers. It's not like you have any rings to put on them!" Also in 2002, former
Dallas Cowboys wide receiver
Michael Irvin joined the roundtable as the main football analyst and was known for his outlandish and eccentric wardrobe on the set. Former
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist
Stephen A. Smith made his TV debut on the set and via satellite as an NBA insider for the show. Model
Leeann Tweeden came on board to report on features and be a correspondent on the road. In addition to athletes, the show drew many hot celebrities to the guest chairs such as
Adam Sandler,
Matt Damon, and
Ben Affleck. Many critics argue that this time period was the strongest for the show's cast with Rose, Tom Arnold, John Salley, Michael Irvin, and John Kruk presenting an "irreverent mix of entertainment and insight in sports that you cannot find anywhere else on TV." In June 2002, FSN launched its biggest advertising and promotional blitz for the show with the "Best Damn All-Star Summer", with superstar athletes and celebrities appearing on the show, along with a barrage on newspaper,
billboard, and radio advertising to help garner more recognition just before the show's one-year anniversary. In late October, all the hosts dressed up in costume for the entire show to celebrate
Halloween. All guests on set and on satellite also dressed up in costume. Since then, it has been a yearly Halloween tradition on the
Best Damn set, along with a custom-carved
Best Damn pumpkin for each of the
Best Damn hosts. On October 27, 2004,
Best Damn partnered with professional wrestling promotion
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) to produce a two night television special
The Best Damn Wrestling Event Period which aired on November 10 and 11.
2005: New direction for the show The beginning of the year presented a crossroads for the show, as its ratings had plateaued and after being on the air for over three years, some felt it needed to be reinvented. In January 2005, following the
Christmas/New Year's break, the program was revamped to appear like a
late-night talk show. Original host Rose was dropped, and Arnold was made the headlining star with Salley as his sidekick. Sitting behind a desk, Arnold did comedy bits and an opening monologue, similar to other late night shows such as ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Late Show with David Letterman''. In February 2005, with the new format, the show traveled to
Jacksonville,
Florida to tape a special episode of the show aired on the
Fox Broadcasting Company, as a part of Fox Sports' pregame coverage of
Super Bowl XXXIX. The special's title was changed to
The Best Darn Super Bowl Road Show, Period ("Darn" being substituted for "Damn") so it would not offend network executives or viewers. (A similar temporary change was later made to the show's name for the duration of one show so that
Kansas City Chiefs head coach
Herm Edwards, who disapproves of profanity, would appear as a guest.) With the new direction, they would feature either Top 50 or 100 moments related to sports such as bloopers, dangerous mishaps, or historic moments. Because of the witty tone, sometimes videos indirectly related to sports would appear in the Honorable Mention segments such as
Fidel Castro infamously falling hard after his speech.
Back to the original formula Although the "
late-night" format drew notable guests such as
Snoop Dogg,
Dennis Rodman,
Bob Knight,
Chris Rock,
Derek Jeter, and even former president
Jimmy Carter; many loyal long-time viewers were confused and felt abandoned by the new format. The show had taken a big step away from what had always been its sense of purpose - a group of athletes sitting around and talking sports as an ensemble-cast. By March 2005, the show was quickly formatted back to its original concept, with Chris Rose returning as the main host. John Salley would stay aboard. Two weeks later, former NFL QB
Rodney Peete and former MLB closer
Rob Dibble were named as permanent hosts alongside Rose and Salley. Tom Arnold left the show as a host, and would return occasionally only for special events and/or segments. The show also stopped running many of its pre-produced comedy bits and segments. The show was now back down to an hour long, which remained that length for the remainder of its run.
2006–2007 In March 2006,
BDSSP had a week-long celebration to commemorate its 1000th show. The show counted down its Top 100 moments of
Best Damn history. Former hosts
Michael Irvin and
Tom Arnold came back to the set to help celebrate the achievement, along with some of Best Damn's favorite guests such as
Jerry Rice,
Pam Anderson,
Michael Strahan, and
Deion Sanders. March 1, 2006, was officially
The Best Damn Sports Show Period's 1,000th show. It was proclaimed "Best Damn Sports Show Period Day" by the Mayor of Hollywood (who was a guest on the broadcast).
April Fools' Day 2006 The show broadcast its most memorable
April Fools' Day prank with a fight between
Tom Arnold and
Michael Strahan, that not only fooled viewers but also cast members and producers. On Friday, March 31, 2006, Tom Arnold returned to the show to promote his "new tell-all book", which blasted his former
BDSSP hosts and colleagues as well as many notable athletes, including many
New York Giants players. Strahan became heated at Tom Arnold after an uncomfortable two-segment interview. He became so angry, he started wrestling Arnold, and Arnold retaliated by tackling him to the ground. Strahan pretended to be very hurt by screaming and clutching his shoulder as the cameras cut to black. It fooled cast members Rodney Peete and Rob Dibble enough to have them intervene in the fight. Rodney Peete went so far as to give Tom
rabbit punches while he broke up what he thought was a real fight. The next day, the New York Giants' media relations reported that they received several calls about the injury status of their star defensive end. It also worked enough to fool the popular internet sports site
Deadspin into reporting it as a real event immediately after it was broadcast. In July 2008,
Best Damn celebrated its seven-year anniversary. Up to that date, it had aired over 1600 original shows and had welcomed over 3000 guests. By then, it had spawned a specialty show on the Internet, as it broadcasts new 30-minute podcasts every week through iTunes and its FoxSports.com
Best Damn home page.
Finale On June 30, 2009,
Best Damn aired its last show. While the series would continue to air new episodes throughout the summer, Fox Sports Net announced that a small number of top 50 specials would be taped to add to its current stable of shows. Chris Rose and Charissa Thompson hosted a retrospective introducing some of the best video clips from the past eight seasons. At the end, former co-host Tom Arnold bade the show farewell ==Hosts==